Property registrations in Noida, Gr Noida drop 50% as cash dries up

It has also resulted in a drastic fall in the revenue of state government as the registration of properties, especially flats, has fallen to almost half compared to previous two months.TNN | December 22, 2016, 08:04 IST

NOIDA: The demonetisation of high value notes has adversely affected registration of properties in the twin cities of Noida and Greater Noida. It has also resulted in a drastic fall in the revenue of state government as the registration of properties, especially flats, has fallen to almost half compared to previous two months.

The figures of past three months of revenue and registration department show a major fall in registration and revenue. Keshav Kumar, additional district magistrate (finance), Gautam Budh Nagar, said the district’s registration department has had an annual target of Rs 2223.60 crore revenue collection from the registration of properties in the form of stamp duties and registration fee. “We usually collect Rs 110-150 crore in one month. In September and October, we collected Rs 114.32 crore and Rs 120.04 crore respectively. The revenue, however, has fallen to Rs 79.11 crore in November,” he said.

Officials feel that the drastic change is due to the demonetisation introduced on November 8. To control the revenue loss, the government had allowed the department to collect a property registration fee upto Rs 20,000 in old currency notes till December 15. However, for stamp duty, old currency notes were not accepted.

The officials of district administration and revenue department also conducted inspection drives at newly developed housing societies to ensure that people do not shift to houses before registration. However, this has not yielded any result as many people have no cash in hand.

Chandra Shekhar, an advocate who deals in registration of properties, said that at present only those who have already bought their houses before November 8 visit the registry department. “The process for resale of properties is badly hit. The future of real estate market depends on the government policies after December 31,” he said. These days, people give priority to meeting their daily needs and buying a property comes second, he said.

The revenue department has so far collected Rs 1,286.20 crore revenue against its annual target of Rs 2223.60 crore.

Since the real estate market is badly affected in the cash crunch, officials feel they will not be able to meet the target this financial year.